Book Review – The Neglected Garden by Suzanne Winterly

The Neglected Garden by Suzanne Winterly is a drama that has equal parts of mystery, romance and familial relationships. The entire coming together of all of these is excellently written.

This book shows us a glimpse of what it took to survive the financial crash of 2008. Gilly is a landscaper who had to move in with her sister and has the bank on her back for payments. Desperate for a job, she manages to land one at a country estate belonging to Marc Flecther.

The property has cottages rented out, conference facilities and Gilly has to restore a walled garden that can be used by everyone on the property. Even as Gilly lands the job, she loves the place and the work. What she does not expect is to fall in love with the boss, Marc. Marc hides a large secret and it comes back to haunt him. When it threatens his son, Sam, and Gilly, he has to come clean about it all. The idyllic country estate’s peace is shattered when Sam and Gilly go missing.

The Neglected Garden is a pageturner. It manages to keep the reader engrossed with the suspense of it all. The characters are well-written and thought of. Some of them are annoying and some endearing. Who wouldn’t fall in love with someone like Sam! And Gilly garden’s comes to life in the text. One can easily imagine the whole garden just by reading through this book.

The suspense was well thought about and written in a succinctly interesting manner. The romance, on the other hand, was abrupt. It felt stilted. Nonetheless, The Neglected Garden was a good read. It kept things interesting and did not disappoint the reader.

You can get a copy of The Neglected Garden here – Amazon